The Raptor

Driving under the influence - $5.000
One prior within 7 years - $15,000
Two priors within 7 years - $25,000
Traffic collision, blood alcohol content greater than .15%, or refusal - add $10,000
Traffic collision and blood alcohol content greater than .15 or refusal - add $25,000
DUI causing injury - $20,000
DUI causing injury with one prior- $50,000
BAC greater than .15% - add $10,000

All of the above are plus court costs and jail time. They're really getting serious.

9kFever

damn lol....note to self dont drink and drive...and these are just monetary penalties...i think the worst penalty of all would be killing an innocent bystander or one of your passengers and having to live with it

psychophd

Problem is, when intoxicated, people don't make wise decisions.

Kel

John_Z

I'm in the auto insurance industry and can speak first hand that a dui/alcohol related loss can destroy your life and those of the innocent as well. Just don't do it.

psychophd

John Z, i have a question for you. Are most DUI/alcohol related accidents in those under the age 25? Interestingly (at least for a geek like me) is that the last part of the brain to develop is the one that relates to decision making (read: wisdom, or logical choices over emotional ones), and that doesn't occur until around the age of 25. So I wonder if individuals impaired by alcohol, compounded by lack of wisdom and experience, play a major role here.

714s2k

I have a buddy Ivan with an STI. He's turning 19 this year, him and two buddies got drunk and tried to go clubbing, but when security saw they had been drinking he didn't let them in the club because obviously if they got stoped on the way home it would look like they had been drinking at the club. So they left and my buddy got into an accident and one of his passengers died on the spot, the other died at Western Medical later that night/early morning. Ivan was charged with 2 counts of manslaughter. But get this, he didn't even cause the accident. They were hit by an SUV which fled the scene. I think they said it was still his fault because if he wasn't drunk he could have avoided the accident. The charges were later dropped, but I still haven't been able to get a hold of my buddy to find out all the details.

johnny

Christ. That sucks so, so bad.

John_Z

Surprisingly I have not seen many under the age of 25. In my experience most dui/alcohol related losses involve males between ages of 25-35. I won't speculate if younger age correlates to bad judgement. What is even more suprising is most of these individuals have families or live with other people. I simply cannot understand why they still choose to drive while F'd up when they can just call a fam member, friend or roomate for a ride home?

psychophd

Hmmm.... yeah, that's interesting re: not many younger drivers. Typically lack of experience, sense of invincibility gets younger people in trouble in general...

as for calling someone for a ride, that might go back to being cognitively impaired due to the drinking ("I'm fine, I only had X number drinks..."). But yeah, you'd also think they'd have more foresight - "I know I'm going to drink tonight, so I'm not gonna drive."